I watched a sad news clip on the NBC website this evening on the state of decline of the acoustic piano. The clip is embedded below (worth a watch after the intro advertising...).

Once upon a time a piano was a beautiful musical instrument, a centrepiece of the family home, a fine piece of furniture around which everyone gathered - a place for performance and shared enjoyment.

Now, people are move devoid of time, physical space in the home, and the social experience of gathering around a piano seems long gone for many.

I was brought up in a home with a beautiful old upright grand piano. I wrote about this in detail almost 18 months ago in my post titled "Back at home in front of 88 keys". To quote in part:

"That old Beale piano still lives in my childhood home. I've known it since I was too small to reach up to the keys. Some of the hammers don't strike the way they used to and the tuning has found its own way here and there. But with my parents currently overseas and a trip to the old house planned, I can't wait to make that back room sing with its sound again".

This sentiment isn't universal unfortunately, with the NBC clip stating that in the last century piano sales have fallen by more than 80%. Additionally, many piano movers are nowadays also piano dumpers.

Each day I drive past a beachfront home with a beautiful black baby grand overlooking the ocean, in front of huge open windows. Not once have I seen a soul near the instrument. It stands alone, perhaps little more than a showpiece.

I feel like the young girl in the video clip - it's not just a keyboard, it's something I feel very connected to and want to play.

I grew up on the Hammond Organ (also a declining species), but have spent most of my life teaching, directing and creating from an acoustic piano. Funny -- as a kid I dreamed of a piano that would have string and brass sounds added to the keys, so I could make a sort of symphony. Now every keyboard has them (but often horrible, whiny strings and honky brass, whose "envelope" causes everything to sound detached, even lurching). Singers in song-and-dance on the stage long for a piano -- the keyboard produces too vague a sound, with no power on the "beat" of the music. Of course, the many virtues of keyboards - small size, light weight, transposition to any key, strings, pads and special effects -- make them tempting for anyone when making a decision about keyboard instruments. At least they are making weighted keyboards -- but oh! How I miss the 88-key stereo.

Thanks for the comment Greg. You're right, there are so many plusses to the popularity of keyboards but there are so many irreplaceable nuances of the acoustic instrument.

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Michael

23/10/2012 10:21:26 pm

I'm sure similar sentiments were felt towards the harpsichord before its demise. I don't mean to undermine your feelings (they are legitimate and as a fellow piano lover I can certainly sympathize), but to put them in a larger context: our instruments are products of our times. If an instrument can be cheaply, easily reproduced in a portable, easy-to-use form, and the sound it makes can be appealing and convincing (while not entirely identical, but 99% of listeners wouldn't know/care), than that instrument will probably take over the market.

Mourning the death of acoustic pianos is akin to mourning the death of celluloid, but the simple reality is that today an aspiring musician has more sonic possibilities on their pallet than ever before in the history of mankind. Top shelf piano manufacturers will never go out of business (as long as there are people who care about quality and authenticity), but the mass market of unwieldy, often low-grade and compromising instruments will probably wither out. Personally, I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

Thanks for the comments Michael. You're probably quite right in making comparisons to the harpsichord.

In my case, as a player who grew up playing an upright grand and now owning a digital piano, I acknowledge that the times are changing and I have been moving with the times. In my own case, the sadness I refer to in the article is more from an emotional association with memories of playing the acoustic instrument rather than a question of sound-quality.

There are parallels here with a lot of product revolutions. Most apparent to me at this time is the similarity to the state of audio recording, where there are countless opinions on the pros and cons of digital vs analogue recording and also on the virtues of vinyl vs the transportability and share-ability of mp3s.

Pushing technical and practical considerations to the side, I know the memories I have of playing the old upright grand are stronger than many I will create "in the box" with a digital instrument.

I've been a music reviewer for 30 years, primarily in the new age genre, and interestingly, in the last year or so I've had a virtual flood of solo piano recordings submitted to me for review. I've probably done about 15 of them in the past 8 months. I'm sure that in general, its true what you said about the piano being in decline, but apparently no one has told recording artists in this genre.

Being a synthesist myself, I understand the appeal of electronic keyboards and what they offer. Yet being in contact with so many pianists, I can appreciate things like the acoustic resonance, the feel, and other reasons they choose to record on a grand piano.

Thanks for the comments Michael. It's great to hear you're seeing a flood of solo piano performances!

As I just posted above in response to another comment, I know the memories I have experienced through playing an acoustic piano are stronger than many I will create "in the box" with a digital instrument.

Let's just say I hope the flood continues!

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